


lovebug.

by fairycafes (kooscafe)



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: M/M, References to Depression, mostly from reggie's pov, no beta because im impatient, they're alive in 2020!, this is super short but bri this is for u baby!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-04
Updated: 2020-11-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:00:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27389107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kooscafe/pseuds/fairycafes
Summary: “Catch this lovebug again?” Luke giggles, and it’s both the cutest and most sinister thing Reggie has ever heard. “Aw, does my Reggie have a crush?”or: both luke and reggie are each other's lovebugs, but both are too oblivious to make a move.
Relationships: Luke Patterson/Reggie (Julie and The Phantoms)
Comments: 23
Kudos: 313





	lovebug.

**Author's Note:**

> hi ♡ i wrote this in 2 days and it's a little short, but i just wanted to give my bestie (bri, the queen of lukereggie) something cute! 
> 
> i hope you guys enjoy♡

It starts when Luke catches Reggie in the garage, practicing the song on his bass, in his own rose-colored little world.

“What’s this? A jam session without me?  _ Ouch _ ,” Luke pouts, scrunching his nose as he laughs, which--  _ not fair _ , Reggie thinks, heart skipping a beat. “I thought we had something  _ special _ , Reg!”

Reggie sputters, waving off Luke’s teasing and continuing to pluck at the chords. Quirking a brow, Luke rounds the corner of the couch to snatch the ipad from its place on the grand piano, pulling a whine from the dark-haired boy who tries to grab it back.

“ _ Lovebug? _ You’re learning a cover?” Luke chuckles, pressing play on the audio and pausing his teasing to listen carefully. 

Reggie watches with a bated breath, eyes wide and mouth agape so long he can almost hear Alex grumbling that he’s gonna catch flies or some other weird phrase he often doesn’t fully understand. Luke’s broad back is turned to him, and that’s distracting enough as it is, so Reggie tries to count the little dips that ripple on his exposed skin rather than panic about the boy’s thoughts on his band-mate’s new favorite love song. This seems to happen for an eternity (well, four minutes and twelve seconds to be more accurate, but that’s practically the same thing when your crush is acting like  _ that _ ), until the song is over and Luke turns back to him with a smirk.

“ _ Catch this lovebug again? _ ” Luke giggles, and it’s both the cutest and most sinister thing Reggie has ever heard. “Aw, does my Reggie have a  _ crush _ ?”

_ My Reggie my Reggie my Reggie my Reggie _ \-- Reggie halts his train of scrambled thoughts, blinking over at Luke for a second before shaking his head violently. “ _ No _ , no--” Something unknown flickers in Luke’s eyes, but he’s too panicked to fully process it. “I just really like.. love songs!”

Brows furrowed in momentary confusion, Luke seems to ponder that fact (which isn’t exactly new, given Reggie’s affinity for country love songs) and then shrugs it off. The bright smile that typically adorns his handsome face returns, and the bulkier boy’s hand swipes on the tablet again.

“Well if you’re gonna learn it, I might as well learn it too.” Luke walks over to the wall and grabs his guitar, settling down on the couch and patting on the spot next to him. 

“Now, let’s get started,  _ lovebug _ .”

And, well, from then on it stuck. Much to the despair of Reggie's poor, fluttering, romance-panicked heart.

♡

It happens again when Reggie’s in deep thought (people wouldn’t expect him to be, and it kind of looks like he’s just staring aimlessly, but he knows himself and that’s enough) about the way Luke’s lips curled around the word “ _ dream _ ” in the new song they’re writing, and how badly he wants those lips to press against his own. The thought draws a blush from his cheeks, as if it were the first time-- as if he hadn’t been daydreaming about kissing Luke Patterson since he had a sexuality crisis watching said boy perform their songs shirtless in their garage all those years ago (an action to painfully innocent it made Reggie want to scream because of all the  _ not _ so innocent things he wanted to do to him).

Slumped into the couch, Reggie jumps when Luke clears his throat from where he stands in the doorway. He’s wearing  _ that _ purple shirt again, the one with the sleeves and while people would argue Luke’s best feature is his arms (don’t get Reggie wrong, they’re  _ great _ ), he’d like to argue it’s his eyes. And  _ god _ , did his eyes pop in that shirt-- pop until Reggie’s own heart popped along with them.

“Deep in thought, Reg?” The brown-haired boy smiles, before plopping himself down onto the couch next to him, legs immediately pressing flush against Reggie’s and thick fingers tapping against the side of the midnight-haired boy’s temple. “What’cha thinking about?”

“ _ Nothing _ ,” Reggie replies, too quickly, causing the other boy to narrow his eyes and inspect him too closely for comfort.

“Oh, c’mon,  _ lovebug _ ,” Luke coos, in that deep, gentle tone that makes Reggie gulp from where he’s pressed against the cushions of the old leather couch. “Just tell me. What’s so bad I can’t know about?”

_ That I’m in love with you _ , Reggie thinks, but bites his tongue before his unfiltered mouth could dare to expose him.  _ That I’m so afraid of losing you I  _ can’t  _ love you or else I probably will. _

“Just-- I just really think that we’re missing a love song in our line up,” he stutters out instead, rather than the confession wanting to claw itself out of his throat. He shrugs, and makes an attempt at willing his heart to stop beating so quickly at the sight of Luke rolling his eyes before shoving at Reggie’s shoulder.

“What? You wanna write a song about Sasha? Or-- or Bea?” The words are lighthearted but the tone takes an oddly sour tone that Reggie can’t quite place in origin.

“Uhm, no thanks. You know I only dated Sasha to do her a solid-- she was in love with that girl from Julie’s math class, remember? She just needed a beard,” Huffing, the bassist plays with the edge of his red flannel. “And well, Bea and I only went on one date. She was more interested in getting back at her ex than anything and kept complaining I was stalking--”

“Stalking? Who?” Luke pressed, invading Reggie’s personal space with a speed that should have been illegal to move at with how much muscle mass he carried.

“--Nobody! She was crazy as hell, man!”

“Do you-- do you have a crush, bug?” There’s something off in the way he’s saying it but Reggie’s heart is pounding too loudly in his ears to even think about the implications of it. “Who is he? Or-- or she, whatever?”

“No one!” And with that, Reggie gets up, not looking behind him as his tomato-red cheeks face the open air of Julie’s backyard. 

If he had, he’d have seen Luke’s gaze drop, a pouty frown forming at the thought of anybody else occupying Reggie’s heart.

♡

It’s not often Reggie cries, but when he does it’s because of the overwhelming weight of the world that won’t stop pressing down on him all at once. And of course, naturally, Luke chooses this time to spring the nickname on him. But this time, in a context that only served to comfort the boy.

It’s just past midnight and his parents would  _ not _ stop fighting. Screaming match after match, until their voices crumbled to the point where one would storm out. This time, his dad, who would likely drown his sorrows in liquor and between another woman’s legs. At least it was finally silent, but then the quiet became  _ too _ quiet, and all the sudden his thoughts started flooding in and he was slumped against the floor by his bed, painting with tears rolling down his cheeks, thinking of it all. Of the people he loves, of  _ Luke _ , of how everybody leaves. His dad leaves, his mom leaves, he leaves-- he doesn’t want to leave his friends, doesn’t want  _ them _ to leave but isn’t that all love has been? An unfortunate series of abandonment, of empty promises and hollow words and people fading from your life the minute you let them know how you feel. It’s what his parents do and deep down, Reggie thinks Luke might, too. Thinks Alex and Julie, and Flynn and Willie, and  _ everyone _ ever, will leave him behind.

Time passes and the boy cries, sobbing and shuddering into the smooth fabric of his jacket. Suddenly, large hands press onto his shoulders and Reggie reels back, not having noticed the window opening to his room in his crying fits.

“Hey,  _ hey _ , bug, look at me.” 

It’s Luke, because  _ of course _ , the universe decided it  _ had _ to be the boy he’d been in love with since he was nine, he  _ had _ to be the one picking up his pieces again. But at this moment, Reggie couldn’t bring himself to care about the snot that dripped down his chin, or the shaky way his sobs were starting to break out again. He just grips at the arm around his shoulder and allows himself to be pulled into the sturdy chest of his best friend, all too desperate to feel  _ anything _ else but the grip of his own anxiety.

“Reg,  _ bug _ , please--” Luke’s soft voice breaks off as he firmly tips Reggie’s chin up, forcing eye contact. “What’s wrong? Is it… is it about your family again?” His eyes are warm, and full of love and compassion and  _ god _ , Reggie’s home is found in them all over again.

Nodding, Reggie buries his face into the other boy’s neck, not caring about the tears that dampen the hairs at the nape of his neck. Fingers curling tight into the fabric of Luke’s self-cut tank top, eyes squeezing shut and trying to steady his breathing in time with the other’s. After a moment, the lead singer pulls away, cupping Reggie’s cheeks in his hands and looking into his red-rimmed eyes.

“Tell me five things you can see,” he quietly demands, following the common questioning that usually helps with his own fits. 

“You,” Reggie starts, voice shaky and breaking off every few seconds with a sob. “Your shirt, your eyes, your hair, your-- your fingers.”

“Four things you can touch.” Luke’s fingers brush against his cheeks, rubbing soft and slow.

“Your hands, your legs, your arms, your chest.” His gasps for air diminish.

“Three things you can hear?”

“Your voice, your heartbeat--” Reggie shifts against him, a little closer to his chest again, to hear it better. “Your breathing.”

“Two things you can smell?”

“Your cheap cologne from the mall,” he sniffles, wiping his nose with the back of one hand. “Your breath, you-- you had those fruit gummies again, didn’t you?”

“I did,” Luke chuckles a little, the corner of his lip quirking up in a half-smile. “Now, one thing you can taste.”

Reggie stills. In the clarity of the moment, now that his head is less foggy and his mind has stopped yelling at him about losing all his friends-- he’s acutely aware of how  _ close _ their faces are. Just barely an inch away, and all he can think about suddenly is how badly he wants to kiss him. He doesn’t dare to glance down at his lips.

“The fruit gummies you ate, ‘cause of how close we are--” His eyes fall to the other boy's lips, losing the fight against his brain. It’s transfixing-- the way Luke licks at them, before huffing out and drawing the boy’s attention upward again. Reggie gulps, embarrassed, before pulling away a little.

“So it’s all me?” The older boy jokes, a lopsided grin striking Reggie’s heart in an unprecedented way.

“It’s always all you,” Reggie blurts out, unable to stop himself, heart stopping in his chest.

The silence is deafening. But it remains, as the boys hold each other, and something unspoken continues to bloom in both of their chests.

They don’t speak again until Luke sneaks out of his window thirty minutes later, whispering a quick “ _ bye, bug _ ” before disappearing into the night, taking Reggie’s heart with him.

♡

The final culmination (but certainly not the last time the nickname is used) comes when Reggie gets a text from Luke at midnight, demanding he show up to the garage for a last-minute band practice before their show the next day. He groaned, but expected they’d be done by one in the morning at the latest.

What he did not expect when he arrived, however, were fairy lights and candles lighting up the room.

The lights were off, so it was dim, and in the middle stood Luke-- guitar ready, and a nervous smile painted onto his handsome face. It took Reggie’s breath away, and he struggled to recover from the shock of it. Alex and Julie were in their usual spots-- Julie to the side on the piano, and Alex at the ready behind the drums. The smiles on their faces brought even more butterflies to Reggie’s stomach, because his bass was nowhere to be found.

“Hey, lovebug,” Luke whispers, eyes full of  _ adoration _ , pouring out in droves when he looks at the boy he loves.

“What-- hey, Luke,” Reggie manages to get out, confused as the lead singer grabs his hands and leads him to the stool in front of the set up.

“Sit, bug. I have something to say,” Luke bites his lip, before doing a little nervous kick with his foot, and getting back into position.

“One, two, three, four--” A breath, a strum of all-too familiar chords, and then: “ _ Called _ him  _ for the first time yesterday, finally found the missing part of me _ .”

The world seems to slow down, and in that moment, all there is, all that exists, is Reggie’s home--  _ Luke _ . Luke Patterson,  _ his _ Luke, his best friend, his band-mate, his  _ everything _ . And everything else falls away.

“ _ I never thought that I’d catch this lovebug again. _ ”

Singing a love song was so rare for Luke, it made Reggie’s head spin-- heart racing, palms sweating at the way the boy refused to tear his eyes off his band-mate in the chair. 

“ _ Hopeless, breathless, baby, can’t you see? _ ”

Everything seems so much clearer, now-- the stolen looks, the lingering touches, the held breaths in dark rooms alone together. The way Luke pouted about him going on dates (to forget him, which would make Reggie laugh if he wasn’t so awe-struck), the way Luke sneaks into his bed on nights he couldn’t escape his own family’s disappointment. The way he and Luke gravitated toward one another, like planets tugged in orbit, like twin flames licking at each other’s flames but not enough to get burned.

“-- _ Lovebug again _ .”

Out of breath and every bit the heartthrob Reggie teases him for being, Luke comes to stand in front of the boy who held his hearts. He doesn’t notice Julie and Alex slip away, only able to focus on the way the other boy steps closer with each second, invading his space until all he can think of is  _ Luke, Luke, Luke. _

“I know how you feel about love. I know you’re scared, I know you think it’s not possible to love someone forever, but I’ve loved you since we were thirteen, Reg,” Luke’s voice is a soft, tender thing-- akin to the hugs he gives, the gazes he reserves for the boy in front of him only. “I loved you when you scraped your knee on the sidewalk by my house, when you stole my beginner’s guitar and tried to hide it from me because I wouldn’t give you my last pizza slice, and every moment since then. I still do.”

“I love you, bug.” A warm hand reaches up, taking Reggie’s cheek in his hand. There are tears in his beautiful, bright eyes, and it’s all Reggie can do to not let out a breathy sob at the admission because--  _ loves him? _

Luke loves him. 

Luke Patterson loves  _ him _ .

A tear slips down the younger boy’s cheek, and the tension snaps like a thread pulled taut-- lips meeting in the middle, eyes clenching shut and cheeks brushing together in the heat of it. It’s all warm mouths and heartbeats under fingertips and grips onto well-worn clothes, pulling each other impossible close, trying to come together as much as possible to make up for all the years they hadn’t.

Reggie is scared, and hopelessly in love, and-- “I love you, too. And I want to try always with you.”

And that’s all Luke needed to hear. It’s another kiss, and another, and then another, until they’re breathless and giggling and slumped into each other in a love-sick heap on the floor.

_ Maybe being bitten by a lovebug isn’t so bad _ , Reggie thinks, heart full.  _ Not if it’s Luke. _


End file.
